Protest in Ottawa

Around 300-500 protesters in support of the Tamil Tigers descended upon Ottawa yesterday and disrupted traffic for about 8 hours on Wellington street and Queen street.

Though declared a terrorist organization by the Canadian government, members of the Tamil diaspora in Canada showed up by the busload in support of the LTTE and marched between the British High Commission on Elgin street past the Prime Minister’s Office to Parliament Hill. I am told that the Prime Minister could not make meetings on the Hill yesterday because of the protest.

1976-1983: Classic Terrorist Group: The LTTE is created and established connections with Middle Eastern terrorist groups and Indian intelligence agencies. It worked to limit effects of liberalizing government policies and to destabilize local areas, encouraging repression by police and military to polarize Tamil society. Terrorist cells evolved into embryonic guerrilla forces. Base organization of Diaspora political front organizations and overseas organized crime by LTTE-related gangs first appeared in Europe.

1983-1987: Classic Guerrilla Warfare: LTTE attacks provoked violent communal rioting by Sinhalese, hundreds of Tamils were killed and tens of thousands displaced inside Sri Lanka. LTTE guerrillas began to engage in conventional warfare with the Sri Lankan Army. The Tigers encouraged refugee emigration into Western Europe, Australia and Canada while using political fronts to tap them for support in their new countries. The Tigers began to destroy rival Tamil militant organizations and absorb other factions.

Genocide, as we have all too often seen, requires much more extensive and enthusiastic massacres than a week of violent rioting 26 years ago. It requires wholesale ethnic cleansing – which is something the Tigers have repeatedly attempted, but not so the Sri Lankan authorities. It requires labour camps and death camps – something that the Sri Lankans have never built. Notwithstanding the events of 1983, Colombo and other Sri Lankan cities have large populations of Tamils who haven’t felt the need to live in fear and apprehension of their neighbours for the past quarter century.

The charges of genocide from the LTTE and their supporters have no merit, and should be immediately ignored whenever they are raised.

Al Qaeda: Besides providing training (presumably on a commercial basis) to a number of member organizations within al Qaeda; the LTTE has assisted members of al Qaeda with false passports and in joint arms purchases before the 9/11 attacks.

Over the decades, the LTTE has frequently pioneered terrorist techniques that have been copied by other groups. These include the suicide belt bomb famously used in the 1991 assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and later to such effect during the Second Intifada by the Palestinians, the use of chlorine tanks in vehicle bombings to generate a gas cloud, later much copied by al Qaeda in Iraq,and suicide speed boat attacks such as were later seen in the attack on the USS Cole. This has led to widespread speculation that the LTTE provides training and instruction for other terrorist groups.

Among the Diaspora, the only organizations that were permitted to exist were at best strictly neutral and non-partisan. However, most were pro-Tiger. Tamils who had left Sri Lanka found that every Tamil cultural body, temple, newspaper, or language and immigration service that they might resort to was pro-Tiger. Being known to hold Anti-Tiger views was to risk ostracism (a severe threat to a new immigrant) or a beating. Trying to avoid paying ‘War Taxes’ meant running the same risks; and could result in penalties to family members still living in Tiger-controlled areas back in Sri Lanka.

Frequently, if the Tiger controlled front organizations needed to make a point, mass attendance at a protest march might be compelled. In recent years, Tamil store owners have been ordered to shut their shops to maximize attendance; and the men used to collect War Taxes might also go door to door in Tamil neighbourhoods ordering people to appear at events. However, as the Diaspora community matured and disappointment with the failure of the 2002 ceasefire grew, a growing number of Tamils started avoiding Tiger events. Legal prohibitions and orders against the LTTE and its front organizations in a number of countries have also encouraged many Tamils to defy these groups.

You decide who is terrorists – carnage by Sri Lankan Artillery. Each one does kill as much as a suicide bomber…so its not much of a difference does it? This MacKenzie institute was paid by Sri Lankan government around 2005 using Tsunami donated money to write a report on potential LTTE future plans. What do you expect them to write? Hell, 2/3 of what they write isn’t even said by USA.

You decide who is terrorists – carnage by Sri Lankan Artillery. Each one does kill as much as a suicide bomber…so its not much of a difference does it? This MacKenzie institute was paid by Sri Lankan government around 2005 using Tsunami donated money to write a report on potential LTTE future plans. What do you expect them to write? Hell, 2/3 of what they write isn’t even said by USA.

dupmar

The Tamil protesters are making a good case against immigration – period. Why should we allow Canadians of convenience – who clearly have no appreciation for this country, its laws, culture, customs, who clearly don’t want to belong but wish to use Canada as a base of operations to perpetuate their ethnic struggle to “liberate” their beloved homeland – why should we allow these people in, grant them citizenship and allow them to determine Canada’s foreign policy.

Why should we pick favourites in an ethnic conflict between Tamils and Sinhalese. Should we pick favourites in conflict between Tutsis and Hutus, who should rule, who should dominate. This merely reinforces my belief that if you are prepared to massacre your neighbours due to ethic, cultural rivalries, you are likely not a worthy candidate for citizenship in this country and if you wish to perpetuate the conflict, don’t bring your problems before Canada’s parliament and condemn the Canadian government for lack of sympathy for your ethnic cause.

As it stands now, I would venture the Sinhalese earn more sympathy simply because they have made much less nuisance of themselves

dupmar

The Tamil protesters are making a good case against immigration – period. Why should we allow Canadians of convenience – who clearly have no appreciation for this country, its laws, culture, customs, who clearly don’t want to belong but wish to use Canada as a base of operations to perpetuate their ethnic struggle to “liberate” their beloved homeland – why should we allow these people in, grant them citizenship and allow them to determine Canada’s foreign policy.

Why should we pick favourites in an ethnic conflict between Tamils and Sinhalese. Should we pick favourites in conflict between Tutsis and Hutus, who should rule, who should dominate. This merely reinforces my belief that if you are prepared to massacre your neighbours due to ethic, cultural rivalries, you are likely not a worthy candidate for citizenship in this country and if you wish to perpetuate the conflict, don’t bring your problems before Canada’s parliament and condemn the Canadian government for lack of sympathy for your ethnic cause.

As it stands now, I would venture the Sinhalese earn more sympathy simply because they have made much less nuisance of themselves

TheBoyle

In the past few months we have had a few major protests in Canadian cities.First it was the Pro-Hamas and Pro Hezbollah demonstrations,in Montreal-Ottawa-Edmonton -Calgary.

The anti Semitic tide was the jist of these protests.

Now we have the Pro-Tamil Tigers protests blocking the downtown streets of Ottawa,these protests are in their 3 rd day now.

Both groups were always backed in the past by the Grits.Mostly in voter rich 416 and 905 area code!

These groups have been banned in Canada as terrorist groups,Then for the life of me,why are they still allowed to protest under the banner of these groups.

The main line that they give is,they are doing this for their Country ! Well folks I thought your Country was Canada.When you come here,please leave your baggage at the door!

Nathan

Timeline1948: Independance from Great Britain1950 : First Singala colonization in the eastern part of the Island1956 : Singala only Act 1958: Banda-Selva pact signed and abrogated1958:1st anti-Tamil riots resulted in hundreds of Tamil civilian deaths. 1965 : Dudley-Selva pact signed and abrogated1971: Ethnic ratio based University standadization program1977: 2nd anti-Tamil riots resulted in hundred of Tamil civilian deaths1983: 3rd anti Tamil riots resulted in thousands of Tamil civilian deaths

Current brutal and Genocidial war unleashed by Sri Lankan government in Vanni and the suppression of minority voices with violent tactics against Tamil politicians and journalists in the rest of the country once again exhibited the Singala nation’s lack of empathy to the sufferings of the Tamil population, intolerance to the minority views and political extremism. It shows that Singala nation is willing to use the four pillars of democracy — judiciary, legislature, executive and the press in Colombo to prosecute minorities by all means and undermine their call for fairness and justice ignoring the internationally accepted norms of government with no restraint. The tone and actions of the political and military leaders of the Singala nation after recent military campaign in the Vanni region amply manifests our long held view of the Sri Lankan government and the Singala nation as a whole. That is, in the absence of armed resistance and formidable deterrence, Singala nation will use all its powers to maintain the hegemony of Singala race at the expense of minority rights.

Since the day Sri Lanka achieved independence from the Great Britain, successive Singala powers spearheaded state sponsored colonization schemes to occupy Tamil homeland in the North-eastern part of the Island. Tamil people’s lands were occupied; villagers were chased away from their homes; Tamil names of the villages and the roads were renamed to Singala names; the ethnic population ratio in the eastern part of Island was drastically altered in favour of Singala population. Singala language only policy was introduced in 1958 to downsize Tamils from government jobs in the state controlled economy. The university admissions were standardized by ethnic ratio instead of merit based admission scheme, that favoured the Tamil students. Having lost their trust in the Singala nation and unitary nature of the constitution, Tamils peacefully campaigned for limited power sharing agreements for North and Eastern part of the country. But any form of public dissent from Tamils was brutally suppressed. Time to time ethnic riots were planned and carried out by Government officials with the support of security apparatus. Tamils’ businesses were destroyed, families were knifed, burned alive and bodies were left on the streets for days. Due to hostile opposition from the Buddhist monks and the Singala masses, even a few power sharing agreements signed didn’t last past even for days. Tamil nation found itself helpless and disabled democratically.

Slowly armed resistance to the Singala nation`s oppression started gathering storm. At this junction once has to realize clearly that Tamils embraced armed struggle only after failing to get any form of self-government from the Singala nation for almost 30 years with non-violent methods. It is the Singala nation, which forced Tamil youths in early 1970s to fight for Tamil rights with arms. The Singala nation has been adapting the same military tactics employed today shamelessly with total impunity for the past 35 years. Until today, nearly eighty thousand Tamil people have been killed at the hands of Singala armed forces; thousands of Tamil homes and businesses have been destroyed and over a million Tamils have reached the shores of the western countries and India as refugees.

In the early days of the military conflict Tamil did not have a voice internationally; our cries and tears never reached outside the Indian Ocean. After the demise of communism, religious fundamentalism once again became the primary concern for the world democracy and civilizations in the past twenty years. With the horrified attack on September 11, 2001, Tamils struggle for equality was bundled into international terrorism. The world governments once again trusted Tamils’ well being with the Singala nation after Sri Lankan government broke the ceasefire agreement signed in 2002 between the then Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. The international community now witnesses the results of its actions in the Island. Once again Tamils have been forced to prove their plight with blood, tears and starvation death to the world.

http://adcorp.co.uk/blog MLA

Just wanted to comment on one element of the propoganda you've been reading – the Tamils do have a state it's called Tamil Nadu and it is a state in India. That is the Tamil homeland. A large number of Tamil workers were brought over under the British Raj from mainland India into what was then Ceylon – now they want to keep part of Sri Lanka for themselves.

julie

How do they think they wil get our support by holding us hostage??? Why are the officers not doing anything about this? Have they not heard of gas bombs to get ride of these idiotd looking for support by keeping us hostage? they are costing us money, not working and living in our country and f cours us canadians say nothing!

Mike

In the past few months we have had a few major protests in Canadian cities.First it was the Pro-Hamas and Pro Hezbollah demonstrations,in Montreal-Ottawa-Edmonton -Calgary.

The anti Semitic tide was the jist of these protests.

Now we have the Pro-Tamil Tigers protests blocking the downtown streets of Ottawa,these protests are in their 3 rd day now.

Both groups were always backed in the past by the Grits.Mostly in voter rich 416 and 905 area code!

These groups have been banned in Canada as terrorist groups,Then for the life of me,why are they still allowed to protest under the banner of these groups.

The main line that they give is,they are doing this for their Country ! Well folks I thought your Country was Canada.When you come here,please leave your baggage at the door!

Mike

In the past few months we have had a few major protests in Canadian cities.First it was the Pro-Hamas and Pro Hezbollah demonstrations,in Montreal-Ottawa-Edmonton -Calgary.

The anti Semitic tide was the jist of these protests.

Now we have the Pro-Tamil Tigers protests blocking the downtown streets of Ottawa,these protests are in their 3 rd day now.

Both groups were always backed in the past by the Grits.Mostly in voter rich 416 and 905 area code!

These groups have been banned in Canada as terrorist groups,Then for the life of me,why are they still allowed to protest under the banner of these groups.

The main line that they give is,they are doing this for their Country ! Well folks I thought your Country was Canada.When you come here,please leave your baggage at the door!

Mike

In the past few months we have had a few major protests in Canadian cities.First it was the Pro-Hamas and Pro Hezbollah demonstrations,in Montreal-Ottawa-Edmonton -Calgary.

The anti Semitic tide was the jist of these protests.

Now we have the Pro-Tamil Tigers protests blocking the downtown streets of Ottawa,these protests are in their 3 rd day now.

Both groups were always backed in the past by the Grits.Mostly in voter rich 416 and 905 area code!

These groups have been banned in Canada as terrorist groups,Then for the life of me,why are they still allowed to protest under the banner of these groups.

The main line that they give is,they are doing this for their Country ! Well folks I thought your Country was Canada.When you come here,please leave your baggage at the door!

Mike

In the past few months we have had a few major protests in Canadian cities.First it was the Pro-Hamas and Pro Hezbollah demonstrations,in Montreal-Ottawa-Edmonton -Calgary.

The anti Semitic tide was the jist of these protests.

Now we have the Pro-Tamil Tigers protests blocking the downtown streets of Ottawa,these protests are in their 3 rd day now.

Both groups were always backed in the past by the Grits.Mostly in voter rich 416 and 905 area code!

These groups have been banned in Canada as terrorist groups,Then for the life of me,why are they still allowed to protest under the banner of these groups.

The main line that they give is,they are doing this for their Country ! Well folks I thought your Country was Canada.When you come here,please leave your baggage at the door!

sjeevad

RSF: Colombo blocking investigations into Lasantha murder[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 2009, 09:22 GMT]Reporters sans frontiers (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued Wednesday, accused the Government of Sri Lanka authorities for “blocking investigations into the murder of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga,” and urged Sri Lanka's President Rajapaksa to “assign members of the criminal investigation police to the case and to formally request the help of international experts in solving the murder.” Sri Lanka was ranked 165th out of 173 countries in the Reporters Without Borders 2008 press freedom index, the lowest ranking of any democratic country, the release added.

Full text of the press release follows:

“Disgraceful” failure to identify those responsible for newspaper editor's murder three months ago<SRILANKA_GENOCIDE_AGAINST TAMIS IN TAMILEELAM

KAVIN

Last three months Srilankan GENOCIDE Government killed more than 6000 innocent Tamil people (mainly kids and women) and up to now they killed over 100 Thousand innocents. now Srilankan Army (SLA) started to use chemical weapons and last week end the used chemical weapons(UN band chemical weapons ) and killed over 1000 people. are you accepting this. NOW SLA trying to killed 300 thousand innocent Tamils who are in the war zone by use chemical weapons within few days. that's why tamils are protesting and requesting to the Canadian Gov and the World to save them from STATE TERRORIST SRILANKAN GOVERNMENT. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION

sjeevad

He told a Marina beach audience in Madras: “I am told that no such agreement has been signed by any country in the world, at least in this century! It does not have a parallel in the world!”. Absolutely. No other government in the world could have conceived such stupidity. (Readers are requested to please rise up and observe two minutes silence in memory of the agreement).

Mrs.lndira Gandhi was a Prime Minister who learnt politics at herfather's feet, a woman with a clear grasp of issues and the courage of her convictions. Son Rajiv unfortunately, brought from the cockpit of a plane to the serious affairs of a large country's governance, had to depend almost totally on his advisers. Equally unfortunately he selected the wrong kind of advisers, who apparently told him that the job of the IPKF was to disarm “2000 boys” !

THE HINDU which has a habit of over-stretching its journalistic duty, reported as early as July 1988, nine months after the IPKF took on the LTTE, that 2,000 Tigers had been

killed in IPKF operations. So that cancelled the “2,000 boys” that Mr.Gandhi had in mind. Ten years later today, the Colombo Press also gives fancy statistics about Tiger casualties, provided by military spokesmen. There is that frequently quoted and now worn thin saying “Truth is the first first casualty in war”, but why should readers be called upon to put up with a permanent enthronement of falsehood.

Ramana Thambi

Nelson Mandela and the ANC were considered terrorists. Today they are the democratically elected government of South Africa and Canada builds numerous schools and roads and names them after Nelson Mandela.

The LTTE has no doubt carried out violence against the South in the 1980s and 90s. However, if one looks carefully at the timeline of events, it has always been in response to Sri Lankan Army's atrocities against Tamil civillians. If you take a look at the last 2 or 3 years, the LTTE managed to fly aircrafts over heavily gaurded air force bases, naval bases etc and dropped bombs on them. If the LTTE is really only interested in terrorist activities, they could have easily flown these planes over rural towns or even a suburb of Colombo and dropped bombs or crashed the planes causing maximum damage to civillians. Why did they not do it?????? It is time that the world realized that LTTE is only interested in safe-guarding the Tamil nation and are not interested in killing Sinhala masses for the sake of killing.

As for the average Canadian, it is easy for you to say to leave our problems behind. The Tamils are grateful to Canada for giving us the opportunity to live here. We work hard, pay our taxes, provide a labour force and invest in the economy. However, we have also left behind many of our parents, siblings, relatives etc. WE CANNOT TURN OUR BACKS ON THEIR PLIGHT. This is not an issue over choosing allegiance to one country. THIS IS ABOUT RAISING AWARENESS TO THE PLIGHT OF OUR FAMILY.

When Hitler was at his prime, Canadians sent our troops to fight him because a lot of Canadians at that time had relatives back in Europe that they cared about. That is the Canadian way – caring for those less fortunate than us.

sjeevad

The first National Convention of the Tamil United Liberation Front meeting at Pannakam (Vaddukoddai Constituency) on the 14th day of May, 1976, hereby declares that the Tamils of Ceylon by virtue of their great language, their religions, their separate culture and heritage, their history of independent existence as a separate state over a distinct territory for several centuries till they were conquered by the armed might of the European invaders and above all by their will to exist as a separate entity ruling themselves in their own territory, are a nation distinct and apart from Sinhalese and this Convention announces to the world that the Republican Constitution of 1972 has made the Tamils a slave nation ruled by the new colonial masters, the Sinhalese ,who are using the power they have wrongly usurped to deprive the Tamil Nation of its territory, language citizenship, economic life, opportunities of employment and education, thereby destroying all the attributes of nationhood of the Tamil people.And, while taking note of the reservations in relation to its commitment to the setting up of a separated state of TAMIL EELAM expressed by the Ceylon Workers Congress as a Trade Union of the Plantation Workers, the majority of whom live and work outside the Northern and Eastern areas,This convention resolves that restoration and reconstitution of the Free, Sovereign, Secular, Socialist State of TAMIL EELAM, based on the right of self determination inherent to every nation, has become inevitable in order to safeguard the very existence of the Tamil Nation in this Country.

This Convention further declares -

that the State of TAMIL EELAM shall consist of the people of the Northern and Eastern provinces and shall also ensure full and equal rights of citizenship of the State of TAMIL EELAM to all Tamil speaking people living in any part of Ceylon and to Tamils of EELAM origin living in any part of the world who may opt for citizenship of TAMIL EELAM.that the constitution of TAMIL EELAM shall be based on the principle of democratic decentralization so as to ensure the non-domination of any religious or territorial community of TAMIL EELAM by any other section.that in the state of Tamil Eelam caste shall be abolished and the observance of the pernicious practice of untouchability or inequality of any type based on birth shall be totally eradicated and its observance in any form punished by law.that TAMIL EELAM shall be a secular state giving equal protection and assistance to all religions to which the people of the state may belong.that Tamil shall be the language of the State, but the rights of Sinhalese speaking minorities in Tamil Eelam to education and transaction of business in their language shall be protected on a reciprocal basis with the Tamil speaking minorities in the Sinhala State.that Tamil Eelam shall be a Socialist State wherein the exploitation of man by man shall be forbidden, the dignity of labor shall be recognized, the means of production and distribution shall be subject to public ownership and control while permitting private enterprise in these branches within limit prescribed by law, economic development shall be on the basis of socialist planning and there shall be a ceiling on the total wealth that any individual of family may acquire.This Convention directs the Action Committee of the TAMIL UNITED LIBERATION FRONT to formulate a plan of action and launch without undue delay the struggle for winning the sovereignty and freedom of the Tamil Nation;And this Convention calls upon the Tamil Nation in general and the Tamil youth in particular to come forward to throw themselves fully into the sacred fight for freedom and to flinch not till the goal of a sovereign state of TAMIL EELAM is reached.

sandy

Chemical Attacks by frustrated military for holding 25 sqkm for two months
-Thanks to the country supplied toxic gas.
Beginning of bloodpath on the beaches, Tamil ethnicity is facing extinction-
Thanks to international community

Tamil Eelam-
Thanks to Rajapakse bros, war criminals

Nathan

Canadians know clearly that coservatives uses Tamils Issue to play dirty politics with other parties. But keep in mind There is 100s of tamils being killed everyday by Srilankan state Terrorist. Is our current Canadian government support State Terrorism??? Are they support use of cluster bombs and chemical bombs on civilians rather than freedom fight??? Tamils are only asking for their own political rights which has been refused by Srilankan governments for decades, nothing else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a perfect illustration of why politicians, whatever their stripe, should not actively court the support of various ethnic groups. The politics of countries of origin can be a hazardous tightrope to walk.

As an immigrant myself, I recognize the hardships immigrants have to deal with. They have to learn a new language, adapt to a new way of life, and so on. However, once they emigrate, they must leave their baggage behind. They should accept the laws of THIS country, work hard and become successful contributors to THIS country.

If your loyalties are divided, if your heart is still back there, by all means go back and do what you can do to help your cause. But do it from THERE, not from HERE.

And don’t import your country’s problems. Use the United Nations or other international forums to address your grievances, not Canadian city streets.

You left your country of origin, seeking a better way of life, and you’ve found it. Canada has generously welcomed you … and now you want to exploit that hospitality?

Mayamaan

If you can take ‘your’ problem to Afghanistan and Sudan (Talisman) we have every right to bring our problem to the west, for the same purpose – to resolve. It wouldn’t be happening if the wimpy UN can do its duty correctly. Remember, if the backward homelands world over are not supplied with forward homelands such as yours we wouldn’t be on this soil.

Ravi Varman

The Tamil Tigers are the one and only hope for the Tamils living in Sri Lanka. The Terrorist Sri lankan Government continues killing of innocent Tamils in Vanni area using Banned weapons (Cluster bombs and Chemical weapons) inspite of repeated requests from the World to stop the war and go for negotiated political settlement. The Sri Lankan Governemnt only intention is to wipe out the Tamil Tigers and make the Island a Sinhala Buddhist Country. The Tamils World over have recognized The LTTE as the only representative for their cause.

Liz J

They're not helping their cause by blocking our streets. They can go to Sri Lanka and try it there. Our Country can't go take over the Sri Lankan government so what are they proposing be done about their “home” land?

It certainly rings home loud and clear our immigration needs to be severely overhauled. Tamils come here and get our citizenship then expect we should fight their wars for them. It's time to set a few things straight but no government party will act. If the Conservatives make a move the Liberals will go the opposite way for votes, these Canadians of convenience are well aware of it and that's the reason many of them choose this country to come to. With our Trudeau Charter and multicultural boondoggle it's a real magnet.

JJ

It is truly comical to see Mr. Taylor holding a terrorist organization to act in a high regard; yet doesn’t expect the same from a democratically elected country such as Sri Lanka – to act in a civilized and democratic manner towards all its citizens.

Double standards are clearly in action.

Remember one thing Mr. Taylor, when you turn a blind eye towards all the act of violence committed against the Tamils and support the Sri Lankan government by saying nothing – you too knowingly become a complicit in the murders and as a result have the blood of the innocent on your hands.

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Sasi Kunaratnam

They are not Tamil Tigers……they are Tamil Canadians who concerned about their relatives back home and seeking for help.

Peri Casianthen

sir,
Your comments are very similar to stewwert bell from national post and very similar to the sri lankan Embassy comments the Rwandan conflict was a genocide so if 250,000 tamils get killed then would you start talking about is this genocide ? SIr if you have got disenfranchised because you came to this counrty 150 years back and if your were made illitrate overnight and if you had to get 4 A’s to attend the univercity and others can attend the univercity wuth 4C and your non violent protest is met with violence and if you are a Tamil YOUTH YOUR CHANCE OF DIAPPEARING IS HIGHER THAN 75% please tell me you must be christ if you turn your other cheek Please also remember the Sri Lankan govt had killed 20,000 sinhalese youth in 1971 and another 30,000 in 1984

Nathan

Dear Tamils, Our Srilankan Sinhala propaganda agents could write so many fabricated stories/comments under faulty name in order to create hate against tamils in Canada and to hide the truth about close door Genocide of Tamils in SL. under “Terrorist” Lable. Please don’t get anger or loose your tember. Since Our strugle has legitimate reasons and we have rights to express our point as Canadian Tax payers, please only concentrate to express the reallity/History of Tamils Strugle for the freedom from Srilankan State Terrorism.

vijin

Sri Lanka has chemical weapons. Bombs the civilians with cluster bombs. Provoked and did nothing about the riots(1958,1977,1983). The Sri Lankan army massacared thousands and rejected any international investigations. Now they have concentration camps to restrict the movements of Tamils. Tamil women and under aged girls were raped by Sri Lankan army. Yet Canada maintains it diplomatic relationship and funds Sri Lanka, where Sri Lanka uses that money to buy more weapons to kill Tamils. So who is the terrorist here? If this is not genocide then what? Random killing of tamils for no reason is called what? If Canada should not intervene in this matter, why does Canada has an Sri Lankan Embassy in Ottawa? If LTTE is labeled as terrorist for their suicide bombing tactics, then should the Sri Lankan government. Aren't we witnessing a double standard here?

ST

Is the site where you found evidence that LTTE may conduct chemical warfare?

If that's true, then please refer the following website in which the Photoshopped image is analyzed:

2)http://www.sibernews.com/200903122233/

Instead of throwing accusations and making false statements, you should tae a closer look at what the SL government is really doing!

Shirani

The quotes from MacKenzie Institute unfortunately are not the real truth and I wonder if they had interviewed any of the Tamil Canadians before releasing some of the distorted facts. I have a few questions

1. Where were all these protestors when the Conservatives banned the LTTE? Why didn’t they get on to the streets of Toronto and Ottawa?
2. Why are they now on the streets waving the flags of LTTE?

These are the questions that you need to find answers for before drawing conclusions that make us Tamil Canadians feel like Terrorists. This is how the racist Sinhala governments made us feel in that country and is doing the same to this minute. Under the pretext of “War on Terror” they are committing GENOCIDE on all Tamils. This is not only happening in the war zone but in all parts of the country. Here are the examples within a period of less than 24 hours.
Apr 09 10:37 14 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo
Apr 09 04:37 26 Tamils arrested in Ampaa’rai
Apr 09 04:25 SLA shelling kills ICRC Team Leader in Vanni
Apr 08 20:49 SLA attacks kill 129 civilians, 282 wounded in ‘sa.

Mind you the first 2 reports are from the so called Sinhala areas. It is absolutely wrong to say the killings of Tamils in 1983 were a plot of the LTTE. I was born in Colombo during the 1958 riots lived through the 1977 riots and personally witnessed killings and burning of Tamils in 1983 riots after which we had no choice but had to leave when my home was regularly search by the police in the middle of the night and we sensed eminent danger.

This Canada, that I call my home gave me refuge and a sense of belonging for the first time in my life. I did not come for monetary reasons or a good life but purely for political reasons. I cried the day I became a Canadian Citizen and I still choke when my National Anthem “O” Canada in sung. I am a proud Tamil Canadian who also has a son in the armed forces.

But, when the people I left behind die and are suffering and facing what I faced years ago, I have no choice but to turn towards my country to ask for help. I need my Prime Minister to intervene and I need my country to help.

This I will ask not only for my Tamil brothers and sisters but also for any other people who face the same situation. We, Canadians were not there for the Tutsi’s of Rwanda, and turned away the ship of Jews who sought refuge and ended in the gas chambers. We said it won’t happen again, but it is happening right now and my Canada needs to act now.

Ltte Hater

These people Ltte Supporters They want to protect Ltte….Don't worry any-one we are going to win the war…No one can't stop…Im not angry with Tamil people…I have lot of tamil friends…Tamil people are very nice and good!!! But Ltte ruin there lives!!! Don't support Ltte my friends…They are the major problem for our country…We all lived peacefully in our motherland!!!!! we all are Srilankans we all did wrong things in the past but as a humans we all can get to gether and make this world peaceful Place

Shirani

The quotes from MacKenzie Institute unfortunately are not the real truth and I wonder if they had interviewed any of the Tamil Canadians before releasing some of the distorted facts. I have a few questions

1. Where were all these protestors when the Conservatives banned the LTTE? Why didn’t they get on to the streets of Toronto and Ottawa?
2. Why are they now on the streets waving the flags of LTTE?

These are the questions that you need to find answers for before drawing conclusions that make us Tamil Canadians feel like Terrorists. This is how the racist Sinhala governments made us feel in that country and is doing the same to this minute. Under the pretext of “War on Terror” they are committing GENOCIDE on all Tamils. This is not only happening in the war zone but in all parts of the country. Here are the examples within a period of less than 24 hours.
Apr 09 10:37 14 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo
Apr 09 04:37 26 Tamils arrested in Ampaa’rai
Apr 09 04:25 SLA shelling kills ICRC Team Leader in Vanni
Apr 08 20:49 SLA attacks kill 129 civilians, 282 wounded in ‘sa.

Mind you the first 2 reports are from the so called Sinhala areas. It is absolutely wrong to say the killings of Tamils in 1983 were a plot of the LTTE. I was born in Colombo during the 1958 riots lived through the 1977 riots and personally witnessed killings and burning of Tamils in 1983 riots after which we had no choice but had to leave when my home was regularly search by the police in the middle of the night and we sensed eminent danger.

This Canada, that I call my home gave me refuge and a sense of belonging for the first time in my life. I did not come for monetary reasons or a good life but purely for political reasons. I cried the day I became a Canadian Citizen and I still choke when my National Anthem “O” Canada in sung. I am a proud Tamil Canadian who also has a son in the armed forces.

But, when the people I left behind die and are suffering and facing what I faced years ago, I have no choice but to turn towards my country to ask for help. I need my Prime Minister to intervene and I need my country to help.

This I will ask not only for my Tamil brothers and sisters but also for any other people who face the same situation. We, Canadians were not there for the Tutsi’s of Rwanda, and turned away the ship of Jews who sought refuge and ended in the gas chambers. We said it won’t happen again, but it is happening right now and my Canada needs to act now.

John Larocque

I wonder if Jim “Tamil Tiger” Karygiannis and some of the other Toronto MPs would prevail on a future Prime Minister Ignatieff to remove the LTTE and the World Tamil movement from the terror watch list. Just what is the Liberal Party's stand on the LTTE's status as a terror group? I notice when the LTTE supporters were clogging the streets of Toronto, many, many signs wanted the ban removed. They'll get nowhere with Harper, but maybe Iggy will help them? Hmmm…

Kama

Before the birth of the LTTE, our kind were brutally tortured, raped and murdered and nothing was done about it. We were discriminated againts for years. The LTTE were formed to stand up to the brutality of the Sri Lankan government. You say that the LTTE are the inventors of the suicide bomb and that justifies them being called terrorists? What about the invention of the atomic bomb which kills thousands and thousands of people? What about Hiroshima and Nagasaki? The LTTE stand up for the nonsense of the Sri Lankan government and that is why we support them. The Sri Lankan government is currently not allowing media to come into their country and why is that? The media would unveil the lies and brutility of the government.

thatgirlyouknow

“I would venture the Sinhalese earn more sympathy simply because they have made much less nuisance of themselves.”

The Sinhalese haven’t had to leave Sri Lanka by the thousands as the Tamils have. Most Sinhalese still live normal lives in Sri Lanka. I am a Tamil Canadian, and I pay taxes and contribute to this society, but that doesn’t mean I should forget about family and friends who are stuck in Sri Lanka who cannot afford to get out. This is not a silly gang war over property – the Sri Lankan government shells hospitals, schools, and so-called safe zones in the North repeatedly. I am not an LTTE supporter, and many of the Ottawa protesters aren’t either. Can’t you just be a Tamil rallying for Tamil civilians?

For those posters asking why these Tamils didn’t protest over the death of Sri Lankans, Tamils ARE supposed to be Sri Lankan, but are not treated as such by the Sri Lankan government. Further, the Tamils did not provoke the ethnic riots against them. The 1983 violence against ethnic Tamil CIVILIANS happened because the LTTE killed 11 member of the SL army. In retaliation for this, over 3000 Tamil CIVILIANS were killed, while the government largely took no action until a few days later, when it proceeded to set up shoddy refugee camps for displaced Tamils, just like it is doing now in the North.

I have family who have tried to get into the government run internment camps to find other family members. They are not allowed in, and noone is allowed out. The camp is surrounded by military personnel. This is just a taste of how the Tamils will be treated once the LTTE is defeated and the SL government ushers in the time of ‘peace’ it keeps blathering on about. This is not a black and white case of a legitimate government fighting a terrorist group. While both sides commit atrocities, the government successfully got Western nations to blacklist the other side, while it kills innocents in the name of its ‘war on terror.’ This is a government where the president puts his family members in important positions, the army commander makes racist comments against Sri Lanka’s minorities, and the president is politically indebted to Sinhala Buddhist extremist parties. All the minorities, not just the Tamils, have enough reason to be concerned about how they will be treated once this phase of fighting is over.

DA

Mr.Stephen Taylor and the rest,
What is the model of Canada? the mosaic. We are allowed to define ourselves with our homeland identity plus our canadian identity. We are allowed to hold two passports. Then why are you neglecting the plight of the Tamils? They have tried everything possible! The government seems not to listen and care! If one day you get a phone call saying your sister is missing, the next day saying your cousin is raped and the other day saying your uncle and his family is dead and all this is done by the government that is supposed to protect you, how would you feel? Forget the tigers for a second. What is a government? an entity that is supposed to protect its citizens and they are killing their own people. THE GOVERNMENT IS USING CLUSTER BOMBS, CHEMICAL WEAPONS! All the human rights organizations such as the amnesty international has stated that Sri Lanka is one of the worst states when it comes to human rights violations. If they are fair why has the government banned journalists and human rights organizations from going to the tamil region? they have killed tamil M.Ps in churches! these are not fairytales. These are facts that even many human rights groups have cited. Mr.Taylor, please before you cite any sort of information you should definately research on its validity which i’m afraid you did not do at all!

Subra

This is fiction and not facts. Here he is trying to rewrite the history of the conflict to please the Sri Lankan government. Writer has completely omitted number of discrimination by legislation and administration against the minority Tamils, two important abrogations of the signed agreements for devolution of powers to Tamils. Writer is conveniently ignoring several pogroms before 1983 where several Tamils were butchered and their properties destroyed. Sri Lankan government propaganda machinery have been trying their best to connect LTTE with Alqueda to get the international support, but failed. Here at last they were able to get what they wanted from this institute.

Navalyooraan

This war has caused an irreversible damage between Tamils and Sinhalese communities. You could see the hate and dislike even in the comments here. There is no chance for a united SriLanka now. It will be better to have two Nations in peace than one nation in conflict. You cannot bring peace by force.

Kumaran Selva

It's not the Tamil Tigers protesting but it is the people who are affected by the Sri Lankan state sponsored genocide of the Tamils. McKenzie institute is(or was) a think tank that spent all their (oh no) all his time in a hotel room listening to the Sri lankan state propagandists. Please do not be ignorant of the thousands of Tamil civilians killed by the 99.99% Sinhala dominated Sri Lankan armed forces just this year. Canada is a democracy and we do not have any war loads to control people! Think why the Tamils support the Tamil Tigers. Please do your diligence before being bought into the Sri Lankan government propaganda. Think why 1 million out of the 3.5 million Tamils escaped Sri Lanka and the answer is easy to follow.

dupmar

The Tamil Tigers protesters in Ottawa demand the Canadian government ” do something”. I agree. They feel they should be able to boldly display their terrorist sympathies with impunity, we may be obliged to endure this impudent abuse of our generosity in foolishly embracing the intolerant and welcoming them to Canada with open arms, but we are not exactly powerless. The RCMP should compile a list of terrorist sympathizers and we should ban them from any government employment, they should be flagged and denied Canadian passports and moreover same lists should be provided to Immigration Canada to deny terrorist sympathizers eligibility to sponsor family members ( presumably other terrorist sympathizers) for immigration to Canada. Then we will see how boldly they wish to display their Tamil Tiger sympathies.

All we seem to hear from Tamil contributors is a rehashing of their historical grievances, their persecution and oppression by the Sinhalese majority in Ceylon/ Sri Lanka( and prior to that subjugation at he hands of European invaders) and how their struggle for an exclusive ethnic enclave is just and noble, by any and all means, worthy of support by the world community. I am sure that the Sinhalese could provide us with a similar list of grievances and historic justification for their policies, and that's my point, ethnic politics is a quagmire and we shouldn't be picking favourites, and certainly not on the basis of which community has larger numerical representation in Canada.

Note that these exclusionist and ethnically intolerant grievance mongers will opportunistically and hypocritically use ” Canadian multiculturalism” to their benefit, as they more often than not apparently do, when claiming the hospitality, protection and benefits of Canadian citizenship in pursuit of hostile foreign objectives ( civil war, destabilization, ethnic cleansing and ethnic enclaves, overthrow of foreign governments) diametrically opposed to the policies of that country which generously gave them refuge and citizenship. If they can't peacefully coexist with one other culture, one other ethnic neighbour on a small island without engaging in mutual slaughter, why in the world would we believe such people are worthy of consideration for Canadian citizenship.

The name says it all , they are “Tamil” Tigers, that is an ethnically based political organization, terrorist to boot, all means justify the end, and that end is what, to seize a portion of Sri Lankan territory , if not Brampton, Ontario as Tamil homeland and expel the Sinhalese oppressors. The name says it all, the objective is purely ethnic politics, the objective an ethnic enclave, no Sinhalese need apply, and why this regressive objective meets with the support of Jack Layton and The NDP is beyond me. Next the NDP will be picking favourites between the Hutu and the Tutsis, well they would if there was some immigrant community of one or the other and some electoral gain to be had, but that tells you a lot about principled politics. No the Tamil Tigers are not Nelson Mandela and the ANC, Jack Layton to the contrary, the program tells you everything, the ANC was not some ethnically exclusive political organization but was broader based and even had support among South African whites.

There is some kneejerk belief by the Jack Laytons of this world that secessionist political movements are inherently ” progressive”, that every ethnic group is entitled to its own enclave where they rule the roost and call the shots, that this is a worthy objective, that the Tamils are entitled to carve themselves and exclusionist homeland, so if he is so committed to the breakup and partition of Sri Lanka, why doesn't he apply this wisdom to Canada and fuse with the Bloc. He was pretty much there already with his coalition adventure. No, every secessionist movement is not politically or historically justified. Apply this yardstick to the American civil war. There the secessionists were the regressives, supported slavery, and the state power that militarily fought the secession and breakup of the Ameican Union and in so doing denied the ” self determination” of slaveowner secessionists was historically in the right.

So why again should the government of Canada support the demand and the struggle for some Tamil homeland carved out of Sri Lanka? And for the Tamil Tiger supporters, fervently protesting in Ottawa for their right to an exclusive ethnic enclave overseas, if such is their true objective and they are prepared to go to any and all lengths to obtain this, including slaughter of Sinhalese co-occupants, what in the world are they doing holding Canadian citizenship.

Shirani

The quotes from MacKenzie Institute unfortunately are not the real truth and I wonder if they had interviewed any of the Tamil Canadians before releasing some of the distorted facts. I have a few questions

1. Where were these protestors when the Conservatives banned the LTTE? Why didn’t they get on to the streets of Toronto and Ottawa ? 2. Why are they now on the streets waving the flags of LTTE?

These are the questions that you need to find answers for before drawing conclusions that make us Tamil Canadians feel like Terrorists. This is how the racist Sinhala governments made us feel in that country and is doing the same to this minute. Under the pretext of “War on Terror” they are committing GENOCIDE on all Tamils. This is not only happening in the war zone but in all parts of the country. Here are the examples within a period of less than 24 hours.

Mind you the first 2 reports are from the so called Sinhala areas. It is absolutely incorrect to say the killings of Tamils in 1983 were a plot of the LTTE. I was born in Colombo during the 1958 riots lived through the 1977 riots and personally witnessed killings and burning of Tamils in 1983 riots after which we had no choice but had to leave when my home was regularly search by the police in the middle of the night and we sensed eminent danger.

This Canada , that I call my home gave me refuge and a sense of belonging for the first time in my life. I did not come for monetary reasons or a good life but purely for political reasons. I cried the day I became a Canadian Citizen and I still choke when my National Anthem “O Canada “is sung. I am a proud Tamil Canadian and don't want to be known or called a Sri Lankan. I am also a proud mother of a son who after graduating has chosen to serve in the Canadian armed forces and takes great pride and dedication in serving his country.

But, when the people I left behind die and are suffering and face the same danger and feeling of helplessness what I faced 25 years ago, I have no choice but to turn towards my country to ask for help. I need my Prime Minister to intervene and I need my country to help.

This I will ask this not only for my Tamil brothers and sisters but also for any other human being who may face the same situation. We, Canadians were not there for the Tutsi’s of Rwanda , and turned away a ship of Jews who sought refuge and ended their lives in the gas chambers. We said it won’t happen again, but it is happening right now and my Canada needs to act now.

I thank my Foreign Minister for standing up and not letting a foreigner dictate terms to show how this country should run its affairs. I worked as a volunteer for a PC candidate in the last elections not only because I had great respect for him but also because I came into this country when it was governed by a Conservative – Mr. Mulroney another great Canadian I respect

Laurent Cohen

I don’t understand what you are talking about!
So, you support killing the Tamil civilians. You talk nonsense here. We live in Canada and we do not support any such mentality that supports the Tamil genocide.

T.Douglas

Sri Lankan State Terrorism
Part 1

The Violence against Tamils and Muslims started in 1915, with Anti-Tamil riots, Ethnic Cleansing of the land, and with the burning of the Jaffna Public Library. This was the largest South Asian library at the time. The Library was home to irreplaceable Tamil documents and Artefacts from the Tamil Civilization. The Tamils only wanted their opinions heard in the Government, but the current violence made it impossible. Due to this, they demanded autonomy. The Debate and negotiations for an independent homeland went on for 25 years, but the Government was unwilling to grant the Tamil minority their wishes. Aggravated by the Politics of the Island, Tamil Youth started forming Radical groups, particularly in Jaffna. Negotiations and Talks had failed in the past; the Tamil groups now favoured violence as a means to get their message across. Large Numbers of militant groups were formed, one of the dominating ones were the “Tamil New Tigers” which were a group of University Students led by Velupillai Prabhakaran. With Enough people and the confidence to take on the Government, the Tamil New Tigers started their operations with assassinations of Minor Political Officials, as well as bank robberies to fuel and fund their cause. In 1976 the Tamil New Tigers teamed up with several Militant groups and Formed “The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam”.

The Tamil People now had a base to fight for their separate homeland, with the Discipline and success of LTTE, plus Prabhakaran’s leadership, the group became more thriving than any other militant group on the planet. For the next few years, they would be the main Tamil Force in the Civil War.

The Government in response to the hostilities that were formed, stretched out its military presence in the North. The Tamil Groups did not favour this and on July 25th 1983 the Tamil Tigers and other militant groups killed 13 Sri Lankan Troops that were stationed in Jaffna. The Sinhalese in retribution to the attack gathered in mobs at the cemetery where the soldiers were being buried and started their massacre of Tamils; burning and looting their properties. It took the Sri Lankan Government 3 days to stop the attack, in which the Sinhalese dominated police force and military stood by and did nothing but watch. It was alleged that the decision to kill as many Tamils as possible was made by former President Jayawardene to “teach a lesson” to minority Tamils. The Black July attack is estimated at a loss of 3000 Tamil lives, and more than 18,000 Tamil owned houses and business destroyed. Restitution was to be paid but since 1983, no money or criminal proceedings have been issued by the Sri Lankan Government. Since the Tamils were now scared to live Sri Lanka, thousands of them decided to flea the island to India, Australia, Europe and Canada. This was the beginning of the Tamil Diaspora.
The Black July attack is what sparked the Civil War; when peace talks in 1987 failed, the country was at full-scale war. The Government pushed LTTE fighters to the northern city of Jaffna, and in April 1987 the conflict exploded with both sides engaging in a bloody conflict. At this time the “Black Tigers” were established; the world’s most elite suicide squadron. They carried out their first attack on a SLA base killing more than 40 soldiers.
India was worried about the Tamil’s dilemma in 1990, and the Indian state of Tamil Nadu showed great sympathy for the discrimination that was going on. So they urged their Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to do something. India got involved in the peace process by sending in the “Indian Peace Keeping Force” and helping in the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace accord in 1987. This allowed Tamil demands to be met and allowed for the official status for their Language. The only problem was that the Peace accord stated that the LTTE had to disarm. When the LTTE refused, the IPKF tried to disarm them by force and ended up in a full scale battle with the Tamils which ironically they had come over to protect. The Sri Lankan government encouraged India to leave the island, and in 1991 they did.
From 1990-2001, The Government sent their air forces to bomb areas belonging to the Tamil Minority; attacking hospitals, houses, schools, churches, and temples. They did this with knowledge that the Tamils would flea from there, seeking shelter. The LTTE named this phase of the war as Eelam War 2. The Government and the LTTE played a number of offensives against each other with the SLA dominant in numbers, and the LTTE using their Black Tigers at their disposal. The Island was being torn apart by war, until Norway and the European Union got involved.
The Sri Lankan Government was criticised for its “War for Peace” campaigned and with new elections, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe won under a pro-peace platform. Sri Lanka was now ready for peace, and in 2002 Norway brokered a ceasefire that both sides agreed on. For some time the Island was at peace, but Tamil discrimination was still going on in the background. Violence started escalating again starting in 2005. Claymore mine attacks and clashes between the Navy and Sea Tigers (Navel Fleet of the LTTE, left more than 250 people dead. Small “eye for an eye” attacks continued with both sides attacking each other through navy, ground and air.
State Terrorism
In July 2006 the Government of Sri Lanka blamed the LTTE for blocking a sluice gate, and without notice the Sri Lankan Air Force sent multiply Air strikes on LTTE positions. The Political Leader of the LTTE announced an end to the ceasefire. With no retaliation the SLA went for another attack on the town of Muttur killing 30 Tamils, and throwing grenades into crowds of Tamils seeking shelter in a church. A few days later the Government carried out a number of Air Raids on Tamil territory, killing 61 Tamil school girls. The world soon started to find out what was going on in Sri Lanka, so the Sri Lankan Government tried to disguise the attack and clamed that they attacked Child Soldiers. UNICEF later proved that the children were not soldiers, making the Sri Lankan government lose credibility. A few days later, 15 French Aid workers were found shot dead in the town of Muttur. The Sri Lankan Government blamed the tigers for this attack, but later sources indicated that the area in which the Aid workers were stationed was under control of the SLA, the Government could no longer be trusted.
Chemmani Mass Graves
During the Trail of a Sri Lankan soldier(who had testified against raping a Tamil school girl)the existence of “mass graves” were revealed at a site located in Jaffna . Amnesty International was prompted by this new discovery, and urged the Government to perform a criminal investigation into this matter. As a result of Amnesty’s involvement, credible evidence of 300-400 bodies of “disappeared” Tamils was found at the grave site.
Amnesty International claimed that the disappeared Tamils were part of a military operation taken on by the Sri Lankan Government. The Disappearances were reported in Government controlled areas, with white vans leaving the scene. Since 1990 more than 12,221 Tamils have been reported as missing with no investigations done by the Government, making Sri Lanka 2nd highest in the world for disappearances next to Iraq. More recently in the city of Killinochchi civilians have found 50 more skeletons with nylon ropes tied to their hands. Reports have found out that, the bodies of the disappeared were Non-Combatant Tamils that were taken into custody, and either shot or tortured to death.

Rape of Tamil Women
Since 1983 the Sri Lankan Army has been responsible for number of gangbangs and rapes done to Tamil women. Females ranging from little school girls to 40 year old women have been reported as raped, tortured to death or blown up by grenade. The women that go through this problem often enlist into the Birds of Freedom (Female Branch of the LTTE), and hope to one day take revenge on their attackers.

Censorship/Embargo
The Government of Sri Lanka does not want the media or foreign aid to get to the Tamil minority in the north. Reporters or journalist are always declined access to Tamil controlled areas, where all the discrimination, and war torn lives are at. During the Tsunami a few years ago, foreign aid was blocked by the Sri Lankan Army towards the badly hit east. The Government made excuses that the foreign aid would be taken by the LTTE, but as we now know the LTTE were in full co-operation in reaching aid to the victims. Its took a good week for Aid to reach 350,000 Tamil victims in Wanni, while the Singhalese in Colombo had foreign aid in the first few days. To this day, The Government has placed an Embargo on food reaching Wanni district. Reports have been filed by the Red Cross of the Sri Lankan Army assaulting fisherman that try to reach essential commodities such as paper, bicycle parts and clothing to the particular district.
With the continuing of violence and allegations, the 2002 ceasefire continues to be null and void. Leaving the country for another full scale war, and the LTTE’s promised “Final War”.
T.Douglas

fc

keep your problems in your homeland. period! we all to Canada so we can be free and peaceful so lets keep it that way. The rest of us Canadians do not want to get involved in a battle that is not ours. Why must we back a terrorist group???

Why must you Tamils disrupt everyone's lives here just because there is a war from where you came from? to me…its selfish and nothing more then that. Just a cry for attention. We all have our own lives to worry about and our own families. Im sure there are thousands of Canadians from other countries as well who have problems and have had family members killed but at least they dont push it on to others. These protests are wrong and should be stopped.

batb

DA: “What is the model of Canada? the mosaic. We are allowed to define ourselves with our homeland identity plus our canadian identity. We are allowed to hold two passports.”

Yes. The Canadian model has been defined as the mosaic, unlike the Americans' melting pot. That was Canada's big mistake — accepting that immigrants “are allowed to define [themselves] with [their] homeland identity.” Actually, this has only been the case since Pierre Trudeau's Liberals came to power in the late '60s and saw the mosaic/multicultural model you describe as a perfect way to gain votes for their Party.

Before Trudeau, immigrants (my ancestors included, who arrived on Canadian shores over 200 years ago) came to Canada to forge a Canadian identity along with the many immigrants of other nationalities. During the two world wars, where they fought together for Canada's and the Commonwealth's democratic freedoms, a common Canadian identity was forged from the many diverse nationalities. This built a vibrant Canadian democracy, which worked for most Canadians.

Now, Canada has been Balkanized, and it seems that we have become an increasingly fractured nation. This is not encouraging from the point of view of a healthy democracy that works for the majority of its people.

I am a Canadian who has only one passport, and am curious about what is gained by allowing Canadian citizens who benefit from our democratic freedoms and benefits TWO passports? This suggests that Canadians holding two passports can pick and choose to whom their allegiance will be at any given time. How does this arrangement benefit Canada and Canadians who hold only a Canadian passport?

Unfortunately, we've seen how easy it is to take advantage of Canada's hospitality when hyphenated-Canadians hold two passports. Think of the thousands of Lebanese who were evacuated from war-torn Lebanon at great expense to the Canadian taxpayers, who then turned around and returned to Lebanon just a few months later where they were able to receive Canadian benefits which would never be invested in the Canadian economy.

Something's terribly wrong with this picture. Put the shoe on the other foot: I'm a two-passport holding Sri Lankan who can come and go as I like, but prefer to live in the other country whose passport I hold while still pulling on Sri Lankan benefits while not investing much, if anything, into the Sri Lankan economy. As a one-passport-holding Sri Lankan how would you feel about increasing numbers of your tax dollars going to Sri Lankans of convenience who are hardly ever in your country?

Issues that need to be seriously thought about …

Unknown

First of all Ronald. Dont act like this is your country! This is Canada, everybody has their rights and freedoms. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY INNOCENT PEOPLE AND CHILDREN ARE DYING EVERY SINGLE DAY! DO YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO SEE KIDS WHO ARE SUPPOSE TO BE RUNNING AROUND, YET THEIR LYING THEIR BLEEDING TO DEATH,WITH NO HELP WHAT SO EVER. DONT TALK SHIT WHEN YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT FEELS TO SEE THESE THINGS. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT FEELS TO LOSE SOMEONE YOU LOVE OVER WAR. THESE PEOPLE ARE DYING EACH DAY, INNOCENT CHILDREN WHO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. CHILDREN WHO ARE ONLY 1-12YEARS OLD. THINK BEFORE YOU TALK.

Navalyooraan

Deal all,

This is a newly released Tamil Eelam Freedom song. Please listen and forward it to your friends.